Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has confirmed that his team will file a protest with the NBA over their 127-125 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night. This is due to confusion over who had possession of the ball in a move in the third quarter that led to an uncontested Warriors dunk.
“During the time out the official changed the call and never told us,” Cuban said in a Tweet. “Then when they saw us line up as if it were our ball, he just gave the ball to the warriors. Never said a word to us. They got an easy basketball. Crazy that it would matter in a 2-point game.” He went on to label the incident as the “worst officiating non-call mistake possibly in the history of the NBA.”
Crew chief Sean Wright argued against Cubans’ claim, stating that the refs did in fact signal that the ball was the Warriors. Despite Wright’s claim, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd insisted that this wasn’t the case, claiming that official Michael Smith must have thought that it was the Mavs’ ball judging by his positioning on the court.
According to the NBA Constitution, Cuban must file his claim within 48 hours of the game.
